The History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876 - John Hendy (1909)

COLONIAL AND FORELGN PACKET SERVICE. 65
Figs. 391, 392 are the Devonport charge marks ;
were amounts ranging from 3d. to 4s.
in similar marks to Fig. 392 there
Fig. 391.
Fig. 892. Fig. 393. Hull, used on wholly
Prepaid Letters.
Packet Offices.
yV different type of the "P D " mark is to be found in some of the
The Registered Letter stamp in use in the Packet Offices was in every instance the
same type as that used in the London Office (Fig. 394).
A different type of the Liverpool mark (Fig. 384) is to be found in use at Hull
(Fig. 395)-
"^^c^t^
FOREICN-PAID
Fig. 394. Fig. 395.
Until 1851 the Postmaster-General in England had the direction of all postal affairs
in the Colonies, but after that date it was open to all Colonies to place their posts under
the management of the Colonial Government ; and as the cost of the mails carried by
sea generally much exceeded the revenue derived from the postage, the Mother Country
financially benefited by the separation of the Colonial posts. In i860, for instance, just
was stated
previous to the transfer of the management of the posts in the West Indies, it
that on each letter between this country and the Cape of Good Hope there was a loss of
about 9d. ; on each letter to the West Indies a loss of about is. ; and to the West Coast
of Africa of is. Bd. As a matter of fact, as late as 1872 it was estimated that the
British loss on the Colonial and Foreign Packet Service was nearly half a million sterling.